Ghana

Arrive in Accra, Ghana. You will be met at the airport by representatives who will assist you with your transfer from the airport to your hotel. Enjoy a welcome drink at the hotel and participate in an orientation session. Dressmakers will be on site with beautiful fabrics and to take measurements to make outfits for interested participants (additional cost).

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Dinner

After breakfast, depart for a sightseeing tour of Accra, the Capital of Ghana. Experience the city’s highlights during this Accra orientation. Accra, which has been the capital of Ghana since 1877, is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region. In addition, it’s the country’s most populous city. Travel through the administrative and economic districts of Accra. Also, see the Artiste Alliance Gallery, the W.E.B. Du Bois Center for Pan-African Culture, and the Independence/Black Star Square. Learn about important events in Ghana’s history and the country’s first president who helped lead Ghana to independence.

Continue your tour to The National Museum of Ghana, which is in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. It is the largest and oldest of the six museums under the administration of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. The museum building was opened on 5th March 1957 as part of Ghana's independence celebrations. End the day’s tour at the Arts Center, where participants can sharpen their bargaining skills to shop for goods from Ghana and West Africa in an open-air market. On display, you will see fabrics of different materials, designs, colors, and textures to purchase from.

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

fter breakfast, check out of your hotel and depart to Cape Coast and drive through the historic Denkyira Kingdom to Kakum National Park, one of West Africa’s surviving tropical rain forests. Choose between a 2 km nature walk through the rain forest to discover the wide variety of exotic flora and fauna species and the medicinal values they offer or take a walk on the canopy walkway hanging 40 meters above the forest ground.

After lunch, embark on a tour of the infamous Forts, Castles, and Slave Dungeons of Ghana. History will unfold the story of the slave trade which the impact is still felt beyond the shores of Africa today. Visit the Cape Coast Castle built by the Swedes in 1653 and was later taken over by the British. Here, you would learn about the relationship between the western slave traders and the African tribes that made the trans-Atlantic slave trade possible. It is an opportunity to be up and close with history – to stand in the dark and stuffy dungeons, imagining the experience and conditions that millions of Africans endured. This castle also houses the West African Historical Museum.

Hotel: Ridge Royal Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

After breakfast, visit Elmina Castle, also known as St. George’s Castle, which was built by the Portuguese in 1482. Here, learn about the relationship between the western slave traders and the African tribes that participated in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Here, participants will witness the dark and stuffy dungeons local people were forced to endure before being sent on a long and perilous passage across the Atlantic. To see the truth of these conditions in person is a powerful reminder of the inhumanity of the slave trade.

After lunch on your own, explore Elmina, a fishing village that’s both picturesque and gritty, charming and thought-provoking. What better way to appreciate it than to immerse oneself in its main industry – fishing! Meet with local fishermen to learn the intricacies of their trade and the challenges they face in their day-to-day work. Next, meet the fishmongers in the village, who will demonstrate the various stages of smoking the fish in earthenware ovens. This is a unique way to experience one of Ghana’s oldest and most important trades.

Hotel: Ridge Royal Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and for a drive through the former slave route to Assin Manso. This was the final transit point for enslaved Africans before being shipped off to the new world. You will have the opportunity to visit the slave dungeons as well as the final resting place for two ancestors whose mortal remains were returned from the USA and Jamaica and re-interred in Ghana.

Continue your drive through the forest zone to Kumasi, the seat of the Ashanti Empire, to explore the legends of the famous Ashanti people, whose legacies are still evident today.

Hotel: Lancaster Kumasi Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, you will visit the Manhyia Palace Museum to obtain first-hand information on the legacies of the Ashanti kingdom. A regal history that dates back to 1700 is told with relics and artifacts. Enjoy a drive through the city with monuments dedicated to the memory of the great Ashanti people. Your city tour on this day will also include a visit to the famous Kejetia market, the National Cultural Centre, which features the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum, and various studios of brass makers, potters, and batik makers.

Hotel: Lancaster Kumasi Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and visit the three famous Ashanti craft villages: Ahwiaa, the wood carvers’ village; Ntonso, the home of Adinkra cloth; and Bonwire, the Kente weaving village. You will have an opportunity to see how African crafts are made and to buy directly from the artisans who make them. Enjoy a packed lunch and return to Accra.

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, depart Accra to a beautiful village located on the lower course of the splendid Volta River. You will pay a courtesy call on the chief and elders amidst traditional drumming and dancing by the villagers. The group will participate in a naming ceremony of recognition, where a Ghanaian name is given to participants, and a gift is presented as part of celebrating a new identity as a Ghanaian and a member of the local community.

After lunch, you will visit the cedi beads factory and market. Beads play a very important role in the life and culture of the Krobo people of Ghana. Beads are used to mark family status, special occasions, and the important rite of passage of girls into puberty called the Dipo. Participants will be shown around the factory and observe the traditional manner of making beads. The beads come in every imaginable color, shape, and size and are made from recycled glass, beer and wine bottles, and broken windows. They are pounded and crushed with a mortar and pestle and then poured into molds and heated individually in ovens. These ovens are made from termite soils, which are able to withstand high temperatures. After sizzling in a special oven for about 45 minutes, the beads are smoothed while still warm. A cassava stick is put in the center of the bead while it melts into shape. The beads are cooled and hand-polished with sand and water and then strung. Participants will even have the opportunity to make their own beads to take home!

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

After breakfast, depart your hotel and drive to Accra. Visit Omanye Art Gallery, one of the most renowned art venues in Accra. There are three expansive floors of art displayed in cool marble galleries established by artists such as Owusu Ankomah and George Hughes, whose paintings are reminiscent of Jean Michel Basquiat and Willem De Kooning. Visit Gallery 1957, named after the year Ghana gained independence, the gallery offers contemporary art with a focus on West Africa.

After lunch on your own, visit Jamestown, the historic center of British Accra. You’ll love the bright colors, authentic tastes, and rich history of this charming district. Explore Jamestown’s architecture, which has a unique blend of Eurocentric and Ghanaian influences, a reminder of the district’s history as the seat of British Colonial rule before Ghana’s independence. Take a picture by one of Ghana’s most famous buildings, Jamestown’s red and white lighthouse that overlooks the Gulf of Guinea.

Hotel: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

After breakfast, spend the remainder of the day packing and doing last-minute shopping. At 5:00PM, check out of your hotel and transfer to the airport for check-in and final departure back home.

Meals: Breakfast 

Below are some of the documents required for travel to Ghana

Passport
Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months pass the return date of the trip.

Immunizations
There are certain recommended and required immunizations for travel to Ghana. Yellow Fever immunization is required for entry into Ghana (you will need to show proof).  Please see the Ghana page of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website for the full list of recommended and required immunizations.

You can go to a local travel doctor to obtain the Yellow Fever Immunization and other recommended immunizations or medication for the trip. Another place is Passport Health, they have travel medical clinics throughout the United States.

Visa
US Citizens are required to have a Visa to enter Ghana. Information on obtaining visa can be found on the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC website or Ghana Consulate in New York website.

The cost is $60 - $100 depending on whether is standard delivery or rush processing (plus shipping). Currently, visas are only being processed by mail.

You can also use a visa service company to obtain your visa. One such company is CIBTvisas. You can find out more about their process and fees at CIBT VISA.

Please note that the visa is valid for 90 days from the date of issuance. You should not apply for your visa too far in advance because it could expire before your trip ends.

We recommend applying for your visa from mid-October 2024 thru mid-November 2024.

The visa application process can take about 2 - 3 weeks to complete.

Checklist for submitting Visa applications at the Ghana Consulate in New York

TRAVEL PROTECTION

• We encourage all travelers to purchase a travel protection plan at the time of initial trip deposit. 
• You also have the option to purchase travel protection on your own through your preferred supplier or Abiri Tours.

All of the first-class accommodations have been selected with your comfort and safety in mind. Click the link to view the beautiful properties.

Accra: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel

Set in an urban oasis within the central district, our contemporary 5 Star hotel is only 7km from the airport where you will receive a warm Ghanaian welcome and complimentary airport shuttle. The Accra Financial Centre, World Trade Centre, International Conference Centre and Government Ministries are all close by.

Kumasi: Lancaster Kumasi Hotel

Set on a palm tree-lined property, this relaxed hotel is 3 km from Kumasi Central Market and 4 km from Manhyia Palace Museum.

Elmina: Ridge Royal Hotel

Moving from the ordinary, you get to live like Royalty. Ridge Royal Hotel takes you to the ridge of comfort and luxury in the best style possible. Situated in the historic City of Cape Coast, Ghana. The Hotel boasts of a picturesque landscape in a serene environment.
Richly inviting , comfortably yours.